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Editorial
Why Pasta Remains an American Favorite
October is National Pasta Month, always a great time to celebrate and feature pasta on the menu while exploring its enduring appeal among American consumers. According to Datassential’s 2026 Consumer Preferences report, 86% of consumers love or like pasta, putting it on par with longtime favorites like cheeseburgers and chocolate chip cookies. What makes pasta so popular year after year? We think nostalgia and storytelling play a big role, so we spoke with one of our favorite chefs, Jasper Mirabile of the iconic Jasper’s in Kansas City.
At Jasper’s Restaurant, guests have come to expect deep respect for the classics of Italian and Italian-American cuisine, along with a rotating set of seasonal specials that celebrate produce items like cucuzza squash in summer, or tie into a holiday or time of year. One such dish for fall and winter is a classic of Northern Italy, Pasta alla Genovese. While basil and pine-nut pesto is the most famous flavor of the Ligurian region, Pasta alla Genovese is just as essential in the region’s cooking. Using a humble chuck roast and long, slow cooking process, it’s a dish Chef Jasper remembers watching his grandmother make.
“I think about my nonna every time I make this dish. When I was very young, I would sit on the kitchen counter and watch her chop the vegetables and then roast the meat and you could smell it in the whole house,” says Jasper J. Mirabile Jr., Chef/Owner. “You cannot rush a dish like this.”
Pasta alla Genovese For restaurants, a dish like Pasta alla Genovese translates quite well to operations. That long slow cook happens in prep and can be finished quickly for service, while the menu and waitstaff amplify the romance of a 6-hour process, “like nonna used to make.”
In a time when the value of a restaurant is getting something you can’t easily replicate at home, what better way to show it than a labor-of-love that transforms chuck roast, San Marzano tomatoes, Calabrian chile and pecorino into soul-satisfying magic?
